Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963

Canzonissima was the national final format developed by BRT which determined the song that would represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. The competition consisted of nine semi-finals held between October 1962 and February 1963, and a final on 16 February 1963. All shows were held in the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, and hosted by Denise Maes, and Bob Boon.[2]

Canzonissima 1963 consisted of nine semi-finals and a final, and to qualify for the final, a song would have to reach the top 3 in three consecutive semi-finals. Almost every semi-final had 12 songs and the top 3 would qualify to the next semi-final, while the other 9 spots would be filled by new songs.[2]

BRT invited 12 artists to participate in Canzonissima 1963. The composer(s) of a song got to pick which of the 12 artists would perform their song (although BRT would not always assign that artist to that song), which would cause some artists to appear multiple times in a semi-final and others to not appear at all. The songs in the final were performed twice, so the juries could judge the compositions rather than the singer's abilities. A total of 88 songs competed in Canzonissima 1963, but since the six songs in the final were performed twice, there were 94 entries.[2]

Voting in the semi-finals was done by an applause meter and a 5-member jury panel. The applause meter gave out 1 to 50 points depending on how loud the applause from the audience was, but since it only counted noise, boos were also counted by the applause meter. The 5-member jury panel consisted of Pieter Leemans, Jef Claessen, Frank Engelen, Gaston Nuyts, and Gerd Mertens, who would each give out 1 to 10 points to every song.[2]

Since songs introduced in semi-finals 8 or 9 could not get top 3 in 3 semi-finals and qualify to the final, the rules to qualify for the final were different for semi-final 9. Songs had to reach the average number of points that every song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final to be able to qualify for the final.[2]

After semi-final 3, "Ode aan de zon" was disqualified as it was released by the composer Henk van Montfoort. Because of this, the 4th places of semi-final 2 and semi-final 3 were added to semi-final 4, causing it to have 14 songs instead of 12.

After semi-final 4, "Kleine blauwe zwaluw" was disqualified as Bob Benny released it. Instead, "Zo mooi" by Jo Leemans qualified for the next semi-final.

To qualify from the ninth semi-final, songs had to receive at least 73 points, the average number of points that every previous song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final.

The final was held on 16 February at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, hosted by Denise Maes and Bob Boon.[3][4] The winner was chosen by two separate juries. The first jury consists of 20 professionals, while the second jury consists of 20 people who were mostly winners of 'De Muziek Kampioen', a Flemish music quiz show. At the start of the show, the hosts explained that the competition is exclusively to select the song that will represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, and not the artist. However, Jacques Raymond was selected as the performer of "Waarom?" at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 anyway. Each song was sung twice by two different artists; songs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 were performed by Anita Berry and song 5 was performed by John De Mol, then every song was performed by the singer who performed it in the semi-finals.[2]